TOPEKA LIBRARY -- Think tweeting is just for the birds? If your answer is yes, you may be missing out on a free venue to market yourself or your company.

Twitter – where one can post tweets – will be one of the many social networks and new media outlets discussed at PodCamp Topeka, a free unconference scheduled for Sept. 19 at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. The event is scheduled from 9am to 3:30pm.

PodCamp Topeka will bring techies and non-techies together to learn about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to new media. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register online at http://www.tscpl.org/podcamp. Free food and a t-shirt will be provided to the first 150 registrants.

International Web 2.0 speaker David Lee King, the library’s digital branch manager, will lead a session on connecting to communities through commenting on web pages. Commentors are not just geeks who stay up all night hanging out in front of their computers, and therefore people shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss what they say, King said.

“Comments create an open forum and usually interesting insight as to what customers want or think about you. Are you in on the conversation or are you out of the loop? I urge people to open their minds to this forum as a valuable social networking tool,” he said. “PodCamp will help you figure out how to use it to your advantage.”

Other topics at PodCamp may include RSS feeds, marketing with Facebook and producing a vlog, or video blog. PodCamp’s schedule won’t be determined until the day of the event – hence the unconference label – so expect some surprises at this casual event.

People interested in leading a session, can add their names to the list at the following site, http://podcamptopeka.pbworks.com.

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